by Lisa Cardiff
I hopped over the wrought iron fence lining the perimeter of their property. My back pressed to the brick exterior of their home, my breathing ragged. My eyes darted around the manicured lawn, and I listened. Crickets chirped with annoying frequency. The moon looked like a white smudge in the otherwise black sky. A hot, muggy breeze ruffled through my hair and clung to my suit, making me feel damp and sticky.
I scanned the windows above the garage. Based on my research, Carmela inhabited the studio apartment above the three-car garage. I spotted the cracked balcony door, and I knew I had a way into her room. While it would have been better for me if the apartment were isolated, a window-lined hallway connected it to the second story of the house.
A quick examination of the home told me I’d have to scale the nearby tree and dangle like a fucking monkey from the branch until I reached the Romeo and Juliet balcony on the side of the garage. Not my idea of a fun weekend night by any stretch of the imagination. Good thing I spent most of my childhood roaming a farm and doing shit that paled in comparison.
“Go big or go home,” I mumbled, scaling the trunk.
The bark dug into the pads of my fingers, making crackling noises that sounded much louder in my head than in reality. When I grasped the branch that nearly brushed against the railing of the balcony, I propelled my legs, swinging one hand in front of the other. I swayed back and forth to gain momentum and launched my body over the top of the black iron railing.
I paused there, catching my breath and checking for any signs Carmela was still awake. I wasn’t deluded enough to believe she’d welcome my visit. She didn’t show up tonight for a reason. Either she planned to keep on avoiding me, or her brother had forbidden her from seeing me again. Maybe she was sick of the whole thing and ran away. I didn’t care about her reasoning. We made a deal, and I felt a little more than irritated that she didn’t bother keeping me in the loop.
With one hand on the gun in my suit jacket, I pushed open the door. Listening. Calculating. Darkness greeted me. The minute I stepped over the threshold, a light flashed, blinding me for a second and I squinted. An object whooshed through the air. When I opened my eyes, it was already too late.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Carmela
My heart thumping wildly, I aimed my flashlight at the balcony door. The second I saw a blurred black silhouette, I dropped the flashlight, grabbed a nearby lamp, and hefted it over my head. With my eyes pinched shut, I swung as hard as I could. The metal made contact with the person. I stumbled sideways, and the lamp slipped out of my unsteady hands.
The person grunted, and my eyes cracked open, searching for another weapon, but I saw Konstantin Trincher instead.
“What are you doing here?” I said, my voice thick with the remnants of fear.
“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Kon growled, trying to keep his voice down. He looked at me as if I were the crazy one when he had snuck into my room in the middle of the night. What did he expect? That I’d greet him with a warm hug and a big sloppy “thanks for coming I missed you so much” kiss?
“I’m not the lunatic here.” I pointed at the open balcony door. “You broke into my room in the middle of the night. Did you expect me to cower beneath my sheets and wait for someone to kill me?”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t need to hit me in the head,” he grumbled, his hand palming the side of the face.
I winced. I didn’t want to hurt him. Well, I did before I realized who he was. When I met him a year or so ago, I thought he was a soulless asshole. My opinion evolved into something I couldn’t explain the minute he defended me when Renzo cornered me in the bathroom. I didn’t hate him, and I didn’t particularly like him, not entirely. In spite of or perhaps due to my confusing feelings for him, I’d let him kiss me. Touch me. It had been too damn long since I’d been with a man, and even when Rocco and I were together, we never had much time alone. We kissed hello and goodbye, and we only had sex a few times. All said and done, Rocco and I had a mostly unremarkable sex life before he died.
“Are you in pain?”
“What do you think?” He angled the side of his face toward me. It was stained a bright, angry red, and he had a short gash across his upper cheekbone.
Crap, that looked like it hurt.
“I don’t think you need stitches, but you’re going to have a bruise. Do you want some ice?”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I made my way to the kitchenette and grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer. By the time I turned around, he was sitting against my cream leather headboard with his eyes closed, his head tipped to the ceiling.
I sat on the edge of the bed next to him, pushed his disheveled blond hair back, and pressed the bag to the side of his face, catching a whiff of his clean, woodsy scent in the process. I grinned inwardly and leaned closer to him for reasons unknown to me.
Maybe it was because I’d been in constant turmoil since my conversation with Evie at the coffee shop. My emotions turned more chaotic after the screaming match with my mom. I demanded she call off the party, and she used the guilt card, telling me to grow up and honor my father’s dying wish. After a circular conversation that went nowhere, I had retreated to my room.
Kon opened his clear blue eyes and shifted closer to me. His eyes did a once over of my black camisole and matching polka dot sleep shorts, and I swore my skin heated. I suddenly felt off balance, and more than a little exposed.
“Why are you smiling?” he asked.
“I didn’t know I was.”
“Well you are. I like your smile.” He shook his head like he wanted to unscramble his thoughts or take back his words, I didn’t know which. “I think you hit my head harder than I realized.”
“Oh, um, thanks.” I choked out a nervous giggle. “So why are you here?”
Cocking his head to the side, he grabbed the frozen bag of peas from my hand and tossed them on the foot of the bed. “Don’t play dumb. You blew me off tonight.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Something came up.”
He rubbed his temples, obviously trying to gather his thoughts before he responded. The black tattoos on his fingers stood out against the color of his skin, appearing somewhat sinister in the soft lighting.
“Did your absence have anything to do with Nico?” While his face remained a blank mask, he had a definite edge to his voice.
My muscles tensed, and I dropped my gaze to my white duvet. I wasn’t ready to tell him about the party at Dominick’s to announce my engagement to Nico. My mom refused to call it off before I stormed away tonight. I still held out hope she’d give in after a night of sleep.
As I weighed my words, I felt him watching me carefully, his eyes boring into me with an intensity that didn’t escape my attention. It made the hairs on my arms spike as if a burst of electricity shot through my nerve endings.
I sensed he expected me to lie, which could only mean he already knew about Nico. Rather than prodding me, he remained silent, scrutinizing my every blink, twitch, and inhalation. Although he hadn’t made any move to get closer to me, I felt the heat of his nearness.
I drew in an abbreviated breath and glanced to the side. Moonlight mottled the far wall, submerging the room in a silvery blue light. “You already know the answer, don’t you? How’d you find out?”
“It’s not a secret. I was probably the last person to find out.”
“You and me both,” I mumbled.
He framed my face with his hands, forcing me to meet his stare. The warmth of his calloused fingertips made my breath hitch. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Evie asked me about it after you left the coffee shop. That was the first time I heard anything about the party or the plan to announce our engagement.” His eyes narrowed and I curled my fingers around his forearm, needing him to believe me. I didn’t want to examine why I cared so much. It would be better if this whole thing exploded right now, and I let the chips fall where they may. “I can tell you don’t believe me,
but it’s the truth.”
“Are you engaged or not, Carmela? It’s not a trick question.” His hands skimmed down my face to the tops of my shoulders. His fingers slipped under the razor-thin strap of my camisole.
“Not really. Not officially anyway. Like I said, Nico never even proposed.” Kon leaned back, and I swayed toward him a fraction of an inch like a hidden string linked us together. “Everyone expects it to happen at some point. Nico and I talked about it last week. It’s what he wants. I told him I wasn’t ready to commit to anything.”
“So you lied when you agreed to an engagement with me to help Gian and Evie.” He pursed his lips and scooted away from me. “You lied again when you agreed to work with me to find a way out of it.”
“No.” I tugged on his light blue tie, trying to pull him closer again. “The thing with Nico happened after I made the deal with your dad, and now…I don’t know. I’m confused. I’ve never gone against my family and I’m scared.”
I didn’t know what I’d do if my family pushed me out of their lives. It happened to Nico’s sister and it could happen to me. My whole world could change with a snap of Dominick’s fingers. I’d lose my brother, my best friend, and my mom. I wouldn’t have anything except my little online interior design business. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I could live with the fallout when I had already lost so much.
“I didn’t ask you to abandon your family. You can marry Nico after I get him to agree to some concessions.”
“Even if I go through with the engagement party, we can still make this work.”
“This isn’t a fucking game, Carmela. We made a deal. We had a plan. You need to stick to the script or I can’t protect you. My father isn’t called Bloody Alix without reason. He’s not forgiving. He can be a sadistic bastard, and that’s the polite way of describing him.”
A shiver flitted down my spine and I wrapped my arms around my torso. “What about you? Are you forgiving? Are you my enemy? Evie said you weren’t always like this. According to her, you two used to be close and you were,” I cleared my throat, “her favorite person in the world. What happened?”
He cupped my chin hard enough to get my undivided attention without hurting me. His eyes were bluer than ever. The angles of his face appeared sharper and stonier than seconds earlier. His lips looked fuller and more tempting than I remembered and they were mere inches from mine.
“I don’t want to talk about my sister. Ever. Not with you or anyone else for that matter. You got it? I agreed to this sham with you so she could get what she wanted. You did the same thing for your brother, and yet you won’t find me questioning your relationship with him.”
Guilt hit me like a punch to the gut. In a roundabout way, he helped his sister not only by breaking up her engagement with her cheating ex, but also by agreeing to explore something with me. I shouldn’t judge him or his methods. It wasn’t fair. God knew, I’d done plenty of things I regretted, particularly when it came to Rocco. I didn’t tell him I loved him when it counted the most. In fact, I outright said I hated him and I didn’t want to marry him.
“Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t make any assumptions. It doesn’t concern me.”
His face softened and the corners of his mouth twitched. On impulse, I inched closer to him, intending to kiss his cheek. At the last moment, he moved his head and my lips brushed across his.
Sparks shot through me, and I stiffened. When I tried to put space between us, his arms circled my waist, binding me to him, denying me the separation I needed to keep my head clear.
“A genuine apology deserves a kiss. Don’t you agree?” he murmured, his attention directed at my mouth.
His eyes were heavy and determined with a transparent look of a predator as though he had no intention of letting me walk away without leaving his mark. His scent enveloped me, intoxicating me, and with the speed of a bolt of lightning I went from nothing to lust and need.
His hand darted under the hem of my shirt, caressing my braless back. Goosebumps spiraled down my arms and heat pulsed low in my belly. “Let me have a taste. One taste. That’s all I’m asking.”
“Why?” I shot back, acutely aware of the uncharacteristic hoarseness of my voice. “Why are you doing this?”
He lifted my arms and draped them around his neck and I molded my palms over the curve of his muscles. “It’s only a kiss.”
My mind battled with itself. The smart thing would be to put a stop to this right now, only I couldn’t. Somehow the “no” I needed to say caught in my throat, and I hovered on the knife-edge of wanting and not wanting. Every brush, tap, or circle of his fingers on my back pushed me closer to giving in.
“Do you want to complicate things even more?” My words demonstrated resistance, although my actions said the exact opposite. I tipped my head up and licked my lips in silent invitation. My nervousness was draining away second by second, only to be replaced with a needy, buzzing energy unlike like anything I’d felt before.
“I like messy, don’t you?” His lips crashed against mine before I had the chance to fire off a retort, and the air separating our bodies vanished like it never existed in the first place. I found myself in his lap, my arms wrapped around his neck, and my now hard nipples squashed against the iron planes of his chest.
Our tongues tangled and I tasted wine and something uniquely him. Our ragged breaths merged into one heady moan. Our hands explored, moving freely like thieves in the night stealing what didn’t belong to us. What would never belong to us.
My nerve endings fired and crackled with forbidden desire. I felt alive rather than stuck in the purgatory-like state of the last three years. Possibly longer because, quite honestly, being with Rocco never felt like this. Every touch and kiss I shared with him was gentle, caring, and respectful, as if we couldn’t bear to offend one another or cross some invisible line drawn in the sand.
Tonight I didn’t care about wrong or right. I already knew this was wrong, only instead of it giving me pause, it made the whole encounter combustible, dangerous, and darkly fulfilling.
With his eyes gleaming, Kon ripped my camisole over my head. The humid evening breeze from the still open balcony door wafted over my skin like a caress. Not wasting a beat, his warm mouth moved down my neck, pausing on my breasts. He took one nipple between his lips, then the other, suckling and grazing them with the blades of his teeth.
I yanked on the knot of his tie, wanting to see what was hidden beneath his shirt. He flicked my hands away, guiding me back until I sank into the mattress, my hands over my head and my heart thudding frantically inside of my chest. With a sharp tug on his blue tie, he yanked it from his neck. He dangled the shiny material from his fingertips while popping open the top two buttons of his shirt.
“I’m in control tonight,” he said, knotting the tie around my wrists.
The air rushed out of my lungs and a prickle of fear raced through me. This was way out of my realm of experience. I lifted my bound arms. “I’m not sure about this, Kon.”
“Then it’s my job to change your mind.”
Grinning wickedly, he dragged my pajama shorts down my shaky legs until they reached my ankles and tossed them on the floor. He wedged his body between my legs. His gaze fiery, his hands trailed over my dips and curves, stopping at the apex of my thighs.
He circled my entrance with his thumb. One swirl. Two swirls and then I lost count. Each time he moved deeper and deeper. Desire rushed through me so hard and fast, my hips arched off the bed, my toes curling into the threads of my sheets.
I twisted and squirmed and he steadied me with his hands. I pinched my eyes closed and turned my head into the pillow, not wanting to wake my mom on the other side of the house. Seconds later, he lowered his head, his tongue working between my legs, kissing the inside of my thighs, taunting me, teasing me. His whiskers scraped across my soft skin.
And then his tongue swiped exactly where I wanted him to be if I had the wherewithal to beg. He lapped me up, leisurel
y then quicker until I hovered on the brink of the best orgasm of my life. I panted, moaned, and mumbled all kinds of ridiculous things that would warm my face with humiliation in the light of the day.
I lost track of time, and all the reasons I shouldn’t do this with Kon when I hadn’t done this with Rocco. With Rocco every encounter was rushed, like my dad could walk in any second and put a bullet through his head. He probably would have…
Kon lifted his mouth. “Open your eyes, and I’ll let you come. I don’t want you thinking about anyone except me.”
When his fire and ice blue eyes connected with mine, he shoved two fingers deep inside of me, curling and twisting like he knew my body better than me. He probably did. It was like he’d stolen the map to me and memorized every detail.
Shamelessly, I pushed myself against his mouth and his fingers, and he chuckled, the sound vibrating against my core and heightening my pleasure. My head whipped back and I dug my heels into his back so hard I was sure it stung, but he kept going. Licking, sucking, twisting, pumping, and there it was. An orgasm punctuated by a loud cry tore from my lungs. My limbs trembled.
Kon kept going, wringing every last ripple of pleasure from my soul. Limp with bone-deep pleasure, my body sank into the mattress, my hands still bound above my head. He slipped his tie from my wrists and draped it over my headboard.
“Did I change your mind?”
“Huh?” I mumbled, curling in a ball on my side, my eyes heavy and my mind blessedly blank. The bed shifted and Kon’s weight lifted.
“Sleep, solnyshka,” he murmured and his lips drifted like rose petals across my forehead. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“What about the engagement party at Dominick’s?”
“Find a way out of it.” His words were a cutting demand, all trace of his honeyed whispers gone. “I’ll get Alix to back off too.”
Seconds later, I heard the balcony door close, and not too long after that, I fell asleep.